Paradigm Shift
by Element's Sole Protector
Summary: AU around episode 65. The aftereffects of Jack Atlas' victory and the fast, wince-worthy impact of Yuuya's head with the pavement.


Somewhere outside of time, a pendulum swings. It sounds like a heartbeat, but chronicles nothing, really. Usually it does nothing else - but today, it glows unusually bright.

In a dimension full of revving engines and screaming voices, the soul of the pendulum is flying. No - he has been flung, violently thrown as punishment for losing the Game. For not being strong enough. For not being _entertaining_ enough.

A million faces see the arc; a million predict the crash. They've seen it a hundred times. The boy goes one way, and his new D-Wheel goes another.

Outside of everything, just as the boy's helmeted head connects with the pavement with a painful-sounding _crack_ , the pendulum stops swinging. And the moment she sees it happen, a girl in the stands screams in pure anguish.

" _Yuuya_!"

* * *

It's been three days since the exhibition match, and Akaba Reiji has hardly moved from Sakaki Yuuya's side.

 _Fractured skull_ , the Synchro doctors had murmured in hushed tones they thought he couldn't hear. _Lots of blood loss. Comatose state. Lucky to be alive -_

Reiji shuts the voices out. Reaches and grabs the boy's hand. He has recovered from far worse than this in the past, and Jack Atlas is not the worst of what he will face. Sakaki Yuuya will make it through this - he _must_ make it through this. If he does not, the Lancers are crippled, the Synchro Dimension is doomed, Akaba Leo will rule over everything, and Reiji will lose -

Instead of responding to all his silent worries, though, the boy 'sleeps' on, unaware. Once, he inhales sharply, and speaks his first words since falling into a coma. He exhales _her_ name, _Yuzu_. Hers and no other.

Ice stabs Reiji's gut, but he doesn't let go. His Lancer needs him.

* * *

The stands have gone oddly quiet, right after it happens. The boy has just been carried off, unconscious and bleeding - the boy in the stands who looks just like him feels a throb from his deck that he _knows_ is Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, responding to the pain from his double and his double's dragon.

Yuugo feels sick. He can't cheer Jack Atlas' victory like he normally would. He can't celebrate finally making it to the Friendship Cup, because Rin's not here with him. He can't even look at Yuzu, who's still not Rin, who screamed Yuuya's name and caused the vacuum of silence to come and suck them all up. Caused Jack's adoring fans to for once feel shame, and not superiority.

Yuzu sobs, and hugs herself when Yuugo's arms feel like lead and can't be moved. "Oh god, Yuuya... oh my god..."

The paramedics rush Yuuya out of the stadium on an already-stained cot; slowly people file out, with some excited chatter about the Friendship Cup picking up the farther away they get from the scene of the crime. Jack Atlas rides a victory circle and then vanishes like nothing's wrong; Yuzu keeps crying; and the lights in the stadium flicker as Melissa Claire talks, as if to hurry people on their way.

Shadowy figures approach, but Yuugo doesn't move. He feels as though he hasn't moved in a hundred years.

* * *

The man Gongenzaka is mad. He's furious.

Mostly at the _nerve_ of Akaba Reiji, to take _his_ place at Yuuya's bedside and shoo away anyone who lingers too long. Claiming that he can't let everyone crowd around the poor kid and attract attention, that he's just worried about one of his Lancers - that he's protecting Yuuya and his deck from "unwanted visitors" like any future opponents, the Chairman and his Council, or Academia spies.

 _Ha!_ As if Gongenzaka couldn't do all that with crossed arms and one steely glare. Akaba-san is spindly, easy to break - and far too flighty to be the leader of the Lancers, the one meant to keep them all united and organized. However, leader he is, so Gongenzaka only grumbled threateningly at the time and resigned himself to standing guard outside the room reserved for Yuuya and his medical supplies. But he _really_ just wants to see his friend again. Last night when he'd been 'allowed' to visit for an hour, Yuuya had been far too pale, still completely unconscious, and had done nothing but mumble unintelligibly from time to time. But the doctors hadn't seemed more worried than usual when they bustled out of his room.

Still - _he_ couldn't help but feel nervous.

For the fourth time today, he paces the hallway, stopping in front of the door in case he hears anything - _anything_ \- even the tiniest murmur. So far Yuuya had only called for Yuzu, his mother or - on _very_ rare occasions - his father, Sakaki Yuushou. Despite himself, Gongenzaka finds some pleasure in watching Reiji's face change expression with every name that's not his. It isn't enough to override his gut-clenching worry for his friend though - and, judging by the fact that he passes Chojirou and Sawatari on every turn down this hall, he isn't the only one who's deeply concerned.

" _Yuzu_ ," Yuuya moans audibly through the door again -

\- and as if she's responded to the wrong name since birth, Serena appears in the hall and charge-walks all the way to the door Gongenzaka's guarding.

"Gongenzaka - step aside. I'm going to see Sakaki."

He's thrown, reduced to babbling, which isn't his way even around girls who aren't Yuzu. "S-Serena - Akaba Reiji said no visitors, not even us, you know that - "

Serena's blue-green eyes flare, and pierce him like knives. "Do you think I care what Akaba Reiji wants done? Sakaki fought a hard battle. I'm going to make sure he actually survived it."

"Of course he survived! I, the man, Gongenzaka, saw to it that Yuuya's injuries were treated!"

"I'm _talking_ about his duelist's pride," Serena retorts. "Any duelist who loses takes a hit there-and Jack Atlas delivered a strong hit. Sakaki says all the time that he'll definitely save Yuzu with his Entertainment Dueling - now that he's lost to a strong duelist, I need to make sure he still believes that."

Just behind her, overshadowed as usual, a tiny hooded hand pokes around her shoulder. _Reira._ Serena points to him, talking more quietly. "...And Reira wants to see his brother."

Gongenzaka grumbles and blusters, but he still isn't that interested in upholding Reiji's 'rules'. He also has a soft spot for kids, even eerily quiet kids like Reiji's little brother. More than both of those, he wants at least a peek at Yuuya before the door gets open and shut. Those three things tied together make him stand aside so that Serena can knock firmly on the door.

* * *

Crow was too drunk that night and angry with Jack to be any good with kids for once, so it's Shinji who ends up asking Dennis how the Sakaki kid is doing.

"Yuur - ah, I mean, Yuuya hasn't woken up yet." The redhead looks flustered. "It's been a whole day - everyone's pretty worried, I guess. But - "

"It's okay," Shinji interrupts, misinterpreting Dennis' words and expression. "Sakaki's tough, stubborn. He'll wake up in no time with that same energy he always has."

"Oh I know - and I'm sure he's already awake in that room. He'll probably come out when he's ready to face his loss. It's his way of keeping the audience guessing, you know?"

This is hardly the response Shinji expects anyone to give about a friend, particularly a comatose one. But Dennis has always been strange to him, and he isn't very interested anyway in dissecting dimensional strangers. He wants to make sure Sakaki will be all right, and that's all.

"...Ah. Well - when he wakes up - tell him Crow and Shinji said 'well done out there'. He had Jack in a real pinch for a minute."

They both unknowingly have the same thought: _Too bad it didn't last_.

* * *

"Aren't you worried about your match tomorrow?"

Vigorously, Serena shakes her blue ponytail. "Whoever it is, they're no match for me, so I don't care. I came here for Yuzu's sake - to make sure Yuuya wakes up."

Akaba's eyes are endless violet pits. "I... am not sure he will."

"You're not _sure_?" Serena still can't claim to know Akaba Reiji well, but she _does_ know that he never gives up, and he _never_ admits defeat or ignorance on any matter. The signs of both on his face now are eerie and baffling.

"He's stopped talking. His brain activity has spiked, but whatever is on his mind isn't readily apparent."

She crosses her arms over her chest, frustrated. With what exactly, she doesn't know. Jack Atlas? Being shoehorned into this time-wasting tournament? Their lack of overall progress in this dimension, hopping from one prison to another? Akaba's tight-lipped secrecy? Saka - _Yuuya_ himself? "He needs to hurry. The Council won't delay his first duel in the Friendship Cup for too much longer... and I don't trust any of them to uphold their words in the first place."

Abruptly the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up; when she glances at the CEO of Leo she knows why. The glare he is giving her is ice-cold. Stubbornly she stays her course, mumbling, "Well he _does_ need to hurry and wake up."

She sounds like a child.

If Akaba's glare was cold, his response is subzero. "I'll let him know about your concern."

Serena gets it. She really does. Yuuya is the pioneer of Pendulum summoning, the primary wielder of the Lancers' secret weapon ( _though it's hardly so secret anymore with all this nonsense, now is it?_ she thinks traitorously). Teacher and master, all in one. Of course their 'leader' would be concerned about his well-being. But that _still_ doesn't account for the tone he's just taken with her, when she is one of the only members with _real_ dueling experience - who knows how to fight Obelisk Force on its own terms. So she glares right back, and fearlessly at that. Speaks to wound.

"Let him know about Yuzu too, then. You know she'll be on her way here now, _right_? Everyone in this dimension saw Yuuya duel Jack Atlas. Yuzu is in the Friendship Cup too - if she's not being detained by that slimy Chairman, then she'll find Yuuya here, unconscious, unable to move or speak to her or bring smiles to anyone. The only reason Yuuya even came with us - the main reason _I_ even agreed to come - was to rescue Yuzu. Do you really want _that_ to be their reunion?"

A muscle twitches in Reiji's jaw. "I'll keep her out of here until he wakes up."

"Like you kept _me_ out?" She laughs mockingly, ignoring Reira's flinch from the bed. She'd actually forgotten he was still with her. " _Nothing_ is going to separate those two for long. Yuuya has to be awake before Yuzu gets here, before that damn Council decides we're all too much of a liability and does who-knows-what with us all. What are you going to _do_?"

There is an ocean of silence between them, deep and frosty, and then Akaba Reiji makes a fist and punches the wall behind him. Reira squeaks, but Yuuya's heart monitor doesn't even jump.

"I don't know," he admits quietly, finally, with a touch of despair.

* * *

Yuuya can't breathe. The life is being choked out of him.

His entire identity swings on an unseen pendulum, one that has been shattered by a blond king, a fiery dragon and a punch off a motorcycle. His Entertainment Dueling, the only gift he ever got from his father, has been defeated, and mocked on top of that.

" _Your duels are nothing but self-satisfaction only! Far from entertainment!_ "

The words are stabs. Well-placed blades in the ribs of his monsters, his ideals, his desire to make the world smile with his dueling. Jack Atlas is a true entertainer, more or less. A callous one, a rude one above the people he claims to serve, but an entertainer nonetheless. He wows his crowd and keeps them invested in his mountains and valleys. Even when Yuuya had him in a pinch, he was still able to ride to victory with nary a frown on his face or an ebb of personality. Self-absorbed though he is, he satisfies _others_ as well as himself.

And what does Yuuya do?

Nothing. That is the judgment of the King.

He pleases no one. He surprises no one. Even when he thought he was making people happy he was only working for himself. _But how can that be?_ his soul cries; _how can all of those smiles and laughs and cheers from those I love be false? Not be enough? Ayu, Futoshi, Tatsuya, Principal, Michie, Mieru, kaa-san, Sora, even Yuzu -_

Another blow, another shiver of darkness wraps around his heart. Yuzu. He'd lost Yuzu because his Entertainment Dueling wasn't good enough to keep her safe, out of the hands of the enemy. When he'd tried to take it out on Akaba Reiji he'd lost; when he'd tried to escape from Security and protect Reira he'd failed; and now when he tried to prove himself to the Synchro Dimension, uphold his father's legacy, and find more Lancers for their cause, he'd lost and gotten himself trapped in his own head. The only duel he had won was won deep inside a prison, where he was able to do nothing and help no one.

How can he look his father in the eye if ever they meet again? How can he bring honor back to his family if he can't win when it truly matters, and protect the people who truly matter?

 _What use are smiles to me if I can't share them with anyone but myself?_

 _If I can't make people happy, how can_ I _be happy?_

A tear slides down Yuuya's face. He wishes he could pull his goggles on, but he knows he's unconscious. There are pounds and pounds of lead on his chest, and he cannot wake up or move. He wants to be free, but at the same time, he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore. He doesn't want to hand out false smiles. If Jack is right, if everything he is is only to please himself and he can never entertain another soul - if he can never follow in his father's footsteps -

" - _nothing but self-satisfaction only_ \- "

If he can't rescue the people he cares for -

" _Far from entertainment_!"

\- then what in all the worlds is he good for?!

 _Yuuya_.

He starts, and looks around. In the blue emptiness he doesn't see the pendulum that is a part of him - he sees only corrosive purple-black darkness, and then he sees Yuuto staring at him.

No. **_Glaring_** at him.

Yuuya's heart sinks. _Even you?_

Yuuto shakes his head slowly. He's not sure if the darker duelist can read minds, or if he's just that good at reading Yuuya's thoughts because he's still _inside his body_ somehow. Funny how he's almost forgotten about his tenant.

 _Have you already forgotten what I asked of you_?

"Bring smiles," Yuuya says softly, weakly, shaking his red-and-green hair. "Smiles to everyone with duels. Just like my dad. Just like you and Kurosaki and Ruri used to. But, Yuuto - "

 _You cannot let yourself be ruled by fear!_ Yuuto's arm darts out passionately, disturbing his gray jacket-cape-gesturing at nothing at all. _That's how we lost Heartland. The Fusion scum came and they took away the smiles we gave each other in our duels. Then they took our decks. Then they took our **souls**! You can't let your foes have your soul, Yuuya._

"It's not that simple!" Yuuya's voice breaks over the word. "Jack Atlas was right. All this time, I thought I was an Entertainment Duelist because I loved making people happy, and because I wanted to carry on my father's legacy. B-but I - I only - I must've only done it because..."

He trails off. Yuuto waits patiently, then less patiently. At last he growls expectantly. _Say it. Why did you really become an entertainer?_

Sakaki Yuushou's words ring yet again in his ears. " _When you feel like crying, laugh._ "

"...I only did it because I didn't want to cry."

Because if he didn't have his father, if his mother couldn't shield him from the sneers and jeers of people calling him the son of a coward, if even Yuzu and Gongenzaka couldn't protect him forever... he could protect himself, with smiles and jokes and playful duels.

Yuuto's posture softens; he steps closer, clutching Yuuya's shoulders, ignoring the pulse of light this creates between them. _There's nothing wrong with protecting yourself, Yuuya. You might not have -_ He changes the subject noticeably. _You were a kid. You had a dream, a good dream. Jack Atlas is only a setback in achieving your dream - unless you let him be more than that._

"Yuuto - I don't know if I can win." He hangs his head. "I don't know if I'm bringing people smiles for the right reasons anymore. If it's really for their joy... or my own temporary 'self-satisfaction'."

 _It doesn't matter. People don't fake smiles for the people they love, Yuuya - not all the time. All the people you care about in Standard care about you too, and when you dueled for them, their smiles were real._

Yuuya shakes his lowered head. He's dejected; he's bruised and beaten; he doesn't know what to do, what to say, who to be. When Yuuto pulls him closer, into the first hug he's ever given anyone not from the XYZ dimension, he doesn't reject it, but he doesn't quite respond either. He only shuts his eyes and trembles, letting tears continue to slide down his face.

 _When's the last time you really slept, Yuuya?_

He doesn't need to ask; he already knows. Yuuya hadn't felt entirely comfortable sleeping in Crow's hideout, certainly not in the Facility, and had only caught a few necessary hours before his duel with Jack. He wonders if that affected the outcome. Probably not.

 _You should sleep._ There's a different quality to Yuuto's voice now. It isn't simply protective, not simply exasperated, but Yuuya's too defeated to try and discover what it is. _You're tired, in more ways than one. Stop lingering around here and let yourself rest._

"...How?"

 _Let me take care of things for a while,_ Yuuto replies. _I'll support you. You can laugh or cry or whatever you want. But if you want my help, you have to get up now._

Yuuya wants to kick and scream. He wants to point to the outside world and cry _Haven't you seen what they did to me? What they've reduced me to?_ But he can't make excuses with Yuuto. The other duelist is offering him his help one time and one time only. If he refuses this, he's on his own. So instead, he nods into the other boy's shoulder.

And above them, the pendulum resumes swinging.

* * *

Kurosaki Shun shoots out of bed on full alert.

He doesn't know why, but a full shiver traveled down his spine all of a sudden and disturbed the little sleep he was getting. It was a _warm one_ of all things, reminding him of meeting friends with smiles, of Yuuto's shy grin and Ruri's confident stance during a duel. But mostly it reminded him of Yuuto, lost to him now inside of _Sakaki Yuuya_ of all people.

The phantom smile he was wearing fades completely, becoming his normal scowl while he glances at the holographic clock in his fancy Friendship Cup-sponsored room. _3:18 A.M._ Why in the world was he dreaming about Yuuto after so long, in the middle of _another_ completely different world, at three in the morning? How could an invisible feeling remind him so much of his old friend that he just _felt_ like he was sleeping just around the corner right now, as usual?

He doesn't know how or why, and that makes him even more upset. So he decides: tomorrow afternoon, after he wipes the floor with his opponent in the Riding Duels he won't admit he's fond of, he's going to Sakaki's room to see if he's woken up yet (and if he can speak again with Yuuto). It's been four full days, after all - either he's going to wake up from that coma or he's not, and if he's not, then the Lancers need to move forward without him.

Shun's not going to let anything - or any _one_ \- come between him and rescuing Yuuto, or finding Ruri.

* * *

"Move out of my way!"

Hiiragi Yuzu shoves and kicks her way past much taller guards. She has reached her limit, and gone over long ago. She has had enough of being shunted around - by her bracelet, by Yuugo, by Public Security, by anything and everything. She is _going_ to see her best friend, and roadblocks be damned!

"I want to see Yuuya! You can't keep me trapped in my room - this is the Friendship Cup and I'm a participant! I have the right to go wherever I please. _I want to see my friend_!"

"Go back to your room," the guards growl, "or we'll put you under arrest for being disorderly, _Commons_ , Friendship Cup be damned - "

That gets Yuzu's blood boiling. " _I'm not a Commons!_ "

"No, but I am!"

The guards, surprised, go down with several solid punches to the gut, letting Yuzu go despite themselves. When she looks up, she sees Yuuya's face in the wrong body, but still lights up to see her savior and (recent) constant companion. "Yuugo!"

"Saved your life, Rin!" He laughs sheepishly and holds up his hands defensively when she pulls her trusty fan from the pocket of Serena's jacket. " _Eheheh_ , just kidding, I know you aren't Rin, you're Yuzu. But we've gotta go if you wanna see your friend Yuuya before these two lugs wake up."

"Then let's go!" When she sees him nod, she takes off running again, not stopping to make sure he's keeping up. She's already investigated two floors of this building before being spotted by those guards and countless others - there's only one floor left according to the floor plans she stole. Yuuya's got to be on that floor.

Yuugo keeps up surprisingly well. Or maybe not - since he spent his childhood on the streets he was probably used to running from angry adults. That thought makes Yuzu sad for as long as it takes to find a staircase and ascend to the third floor.

When they burst through the fire door there are no Security guards or Friendship Cup officers. Instead there are a lot of people Yuzu recognizes in short order: friends, allies and opponents from the Maiami Duel Championship. Yuugo stops short behind her, his posture screaming 'intimidated', but she feels nothing but joy, particularly when she recognizes the two people at a door at the end of the hall.

" _Gongenzaka! Serena!_ "

Their heads whip around; Gongenzaka Noboru grins from ear to ear and Serena displays a smile Yuzu didn't think she had in her. She runs to them, gets caught up in her bigger friend's arms. "I'm so happy to see you - here - in the Synchro Dimension!"

"We came to rescue you," he says emotionally, with eyes overbright. "Yuuya especially. We had no idea until recently that you didn't really need rescuing."

"You should've known," she teases; but the thought of her poor friend has gotten her somewhat back on track, so she frees herself, and turns to greet Serena by holding and squeezing both her hands. "It's good to see that you got away safely from the Obelisk Force, Serena."

"I'm glad you weren't captured by the Professor," Serena responds more neutrally. She still isn't one to show a whole lot of feeling, but Yuzu can tell that in her own special way Serena is very happy to see her again, and that's good enough for her.

So Yuzu ignores Dennis Mackfield slinking into the shadows down the hall, and focuses on soothing the worries of the other Lancers who are approaching in a loose circle to close Yuugo in next to her. "Don't worry, he's my friend - his name is Yuugo and he's kept me safe while I was here in the City."

Yuugo is staring with wide blue eyes at Serena, who first ignores his open looks and then glares at them.

"What are you looking at?"

He apparently finds her personality off-putting as well as foreign; predictably, Yuugo looks next to Yuzu with a half-pleading, half-knowing look in his eyes as he asks, "Rin...?"

She shakes her head. "No, Yuugo, this is Serena, she looks like me and Rin and Ruri. She's from the - well, she's one of my friends."

Yuugo wilts. Once Serena understands the situation, and apparently sees some of Yuuya in the stranger's face, she softens a bit toward him and uncrosses her arms.

Yuzu gestures to the door behind her friends. "Is - Yuuya in there...?"

She expects bad news. For four days, she has steeled herself for it. So she is surprised when both Gongenzaka and Serena break into tiny, relieved smiles that seem to tell great stories beneath the surface.

Together they say, "He's awake."

There's more, of course - Yuugo gets to learn about how Yuuya woke at dawn, silently and with no fanfare, and how it apparently took the Akabas Reiji and Reira several more hours to wake up and notice the uptick in the heart monitor, and then the unusual-but-present words of the duelist himself. He gets to learn about how all the Lancers, plus a few Commons guys he thinks he grew up idolizing, took turns barging into Yuuya's room to see for themselves that he had survived such a significant blow. He watches the way Serena talks, notices her similarities to Yuzu and Rin, as she explains what all's been happening on this floor for the past few days, how they feel as trapped as he does here, how they got forced into the Friendship Cup and how they don't know when the Fusion Dimension will attack, but that it could happen at any moment, without mercy or consideration. He doesn't notice the way Yuzu goes into a fog the moment she hears about Yuuya being awake, and he doesn't notice how she knocks only perfunctorily before pushing her way into the room for a reunion that's long overdue.

For her part, Yuzu's eyes can't seem to focus until she sees Yuuya sitting on the edge of his bed, with a few stray wires connecting from his arm to a machine monitoring his heart and brain activity. Tubes for food and water have been shoved aside recently. He's thinner than normal, gaunt in the face and arms, and the shine that's usually in his duo-colored hair is gone - but he's _Yuuya_ , her Sakaki Yuuya, her best friend since babyhood. When she notices his goggles lying (oddly) forgotten away from him, her eyes fill.

"... _Yuuya_."

It takes a second, but he looks up at her and stands. The smile he gives her isn't as big as one of his normal smiles; even considering everything he's been through, this sends alarm bells through Yuzu's head that she chooses to ignore in the face of overwhelming joy and relief. He walks slowly toward her, and she meets him halfway, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug that encompasses everything they will say and everything they won't. She cries a little bit and isn't ashamed of it; she doesn't feel a single tear on her hair, shoulders or neck.

When she meets his eyes again, they are only _just_ crimson; there is (even more oddly) a lot of gray. And when he speaks, it's soft and gravelly, and only a few words in familiar and foreign tones:

"Yuzu... I found you."


End file.
